Falling Seasons

We are due for a cold snap this week so the hat, scarf and gloves are out ready and waiting. Dad brought in a load of our pot plants to the greenhouse to protect them from the imminent frosts and we have all been enjoying the last few days of sunshine, dragging out the last of the summer vibes. The trees are mid-way through turning, their beautiful shades of orange, yellow and burnt umber mingling together, looking especially beautiful in late evenings when the sun begins to drop down behind the horizon.

Our garden is starting to die away now, with only a few hardy Geraniums and Nasturtiums still flaunting their colours. We have laid out the Sunflower heads for the birds and squirrels to nibble on and perhaps we will have a few self sown Sunflowers next year too.

A couple of weeks ago we had a caterpillar invasion on our Nasturtiums. We don't mind them living in that particular flower bed as Nasturtiums are so prolific and grow like mad, but at one point the caterpillars were migrating across the path towards the house, probably looking for somewhere to hole up and turn into butterflies. They were walking over the stone slabs and climbing up the walls of the house- we did have a moment where they were coming through the open sitting room window and I had to get my spoon and pot ready to catch them and take them back outside- but they have all disappeared now into little hidey holes.

The cat is being very demanding. He is a summer loving cat, and hates the thought of the cold wintry days ahead so spends a lot of the Autumn moaning about it and following people around meowing his disapproval of the weather. I suppose he thinks we can do something about it?

This week of course is Halloween, and although we aren't the sort of family that goes all out with dressing up and parties, we do like to dress the Kitchen with decorations, and fill a cauldron with chocolates just in case. Happily we don't get many trick-or-treaters so most of the chocolate we can eat ourselves.

The Mother has bought a couple of different buntings this year which make the dining area very spooky looking, and I have had the annual task of carving the pumpkin. What do you think?

I don't like to waste the insides so usually try to make something seasonal with them. This year The Mother requested a repeat of my pumpkin muffins which are quite easy and use up 200g of pumpkin flesh at a time. On average I can get four batches of 12 muffins out of one medium pumpkin so that's not bad. They contain lots of ginger, nutmeg, all spice and cloves, and the smell is delicious as they bake! The taste isn't bad either.

So all of our bunting is up, the pumpkins carved and ready, the cauldron filled, and my vase of un-dead flowers (seed heads sourced from the garden) beautifying the table. We are ready for Halloween!